‘Dilscoop’ in­ven­tor gets set for pa ing shot against Aus­tralia

RE­TIR­ING “Dilscoop” in­ven­tor Til­lakaratne Dil­shan has a last chance to show­case the au­da­cious shot that bears his name when Sri Lanka play Aus­tralia in two Twenty20 in­ter­na­tion­als this week.

The Sri Lankan’s cheeky ramp shot, in which he goes down on one knee and flicks the ball over the wick­et­keeper’s head, has plagued bowlers and in­spired fel­low bats­men since he un­veiled it in 2008.

Fans have a fi­nal op­por­tu­nity to see the 39-year-old – and with luck, his fa­mous “Dilscoop” – when Sri Lanka take on Aus­tralia in Pallekele to­day, and in Colombo on Septem­ber 9.

Aus­tralia are fresh from a con­vinc­ing 4-1 vic­tory over Sri Lanka in their one-day in­ter­na­tion­als, which comes after their 3-0 drub­bing in the Test se­ries last month.

After an­nounc­ing his re­tire­ment dur­ing the ODIs, Dil­shan did not get a chance to show off the “Dilscoop” in front of some rau­cous home crowds, thanks to some tight bowl­ing from the Aus­tralians.

He will now be keen to un­leash it in the T20s. Few play­ers have shots named after them, but Dil­shan’s over­head pad­dle shot has en­sured his place in crick­et­ing his­tory.

“The Dilscoop, I first tried in 2008 in South Africa against Aus­tralia be­cause I knew no­body could stand be­hind the wick­et­keeper,” Dil­shan re­called after play­ing his last ODI match last week.

“I prac­tised it and then played it in the 2009 World Cup against Shane Wat­son and it went for a six and that shot gave me lot of courage. I’m happy there’s one shot un­der my name in my long crick­et­ing ca­reer,” said Dil­shan.

With Sri Lankan captain An­gelo Mathews side­lined with in­jury, standin skip­per Di­nesh Chandi­mal said his side had all the more to prove in the T20s.

“We’ll learn from these mis­takes and come back stronger. One se­ries you are go­ing to win, another se­ries you are go­ing to lose,” Chandi­mal said.

David Warner’s Aus­tralia are look­ing to keep up their win­ning mo­men­tum go­ing into the last leg of a two-month tour of the is­land.

But Aus­tralia’s in­jury list has grown after the ODIs, with ex­plo­sive opener Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn join­ing Shaun Marsh (bro­ken fin­ger) and Nathan Coul­ter-Nile (back in­jury) out of the squad.

Finch, who will per­form 12th-man du­ties in the T20s, broke his in­dex fin­ger dur­ing the fifth and fi­nal ODI in Pallekele, while Lynn dis­lo­cated his shoul­der dur­ing a team practice ses­sion.

With reg­u­lar skip­per Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh rested, the vis­i­tors have asked wick­et­keeper-bats­man Matthew Wade and ODI star Ge­orge Bai­ley to stay back for the fi­nal two games.

Wade, who will stay on for both matches, and Bai­ley, who will stay for one of them, have coun­tered the slug­gish Sri Lankan pitches with aplomb in the ODIs.

“In these con­di­tions you’re go­ing to have to sweep. You need to use your feet You’re go­ing to have to watch the ball hard on to the bat where you can’t leave the ball be­cause one is go­ing to skid on,” Warner said on tack­ling Sri Lankan con­di­tions. –

Photo: AFP

Sri Lankan crick­eter Til­lakaratne Dil­shan plays a shot dur­ing the first Twenty20 International cricket match be­tween Sri Lanka and the West Indies in Pallekele on Novem­ber 9, 2015.